


Could A Sexy Vampire Ever Love A Hipster Werewolf?

by perfect_plan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Coming Out, Fluff, Halloween, Homophobia, M/M, Skeleton Crew - Freeform, Slurs, kind of teenage angst but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 07:01:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2842223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfect_plan/pseuds/perfect_plan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers tries to manage coming out, avoiding the school bully and being in love with his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could A Sexy Vampire Ever Love A Hipster Werewolf?

**Author's Note:**

> It's Christmas so have a High School AU set at Halloween! 
> 
> This one wasn't meant to be as long as it ended up but there we go.

"So do you know what you're going as yet?" Bucky whispered as he leaned across his desk and jabbed Steve in his side. Steve let out an involuntary squeak and Mr Coulson looked over at them.

"Mr Rogers? Do we have a problem?"

Steve immediately flushed red and sat up. "No sir." Several other kids giggled.

Mr Coulson nodded. "Good." He looked back down at the pile of papers on his desk.

Steve threw Bucky a dirty look and watched as he tried to laugh as quietly as he could. Tony was laughing too from his own desk and Steve just shook his head and tried to get back into planning his essay. He wasn't really mad though. It was impossible to stay mad at Bucky.

Bucky glanced up at the front of the classroom and when he was certain that Mr Coulson's attention was elsewhere, leaned over to Steve again.

"You didn't answer my question."

Steve didn't look up from his notebook, adjusting his glasses. "I've got an idea. It's dumb but kind of funny."

"So are you going to tell me or what?"

Steve grinned. "Nope. I'll show you on Halloween."

Bucky made a face and slumped back in his seat.

"What about you?" Steve whispered.

Bucky shrugged. "Probably just a vampire or something."

They went trick or treating every Halloween with Tony and Clint, even though they were all going to be eighteen next year, without fail. They had kind of outgrew making synchronised costumes, though. That shit was lame.

"Okay," Mr Coulson said and stood up. "We're almost done. I would like your essays on my desk Monday morning please, no less than four pages, _single-spaced_ ; any double-spaced essays and you owe me an extra four pages."

There was a collective groan and Mr Coulson leaned forward on his desk, shoulders hunched and eyed them all. When he spoke again, his voice was gruff with some kind of accent.

"I know who you are. I know what you want. If you're looking for an A, I can tell you I don't have many. But what I do have are a very particular set of grading skills, skills I have acquired over a very long teaching career. Skills that make me a nightmare for students like you..."

Several kids had started to laugh, catching on to what Mr Coulson was saying. Steve glanced at Bucky with a big grin and Bucky gave him a look. _This is not cool_.

Mr Coulson continued. "If you write me a four page single-spaced essay now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will give you a C minus."

The class erupted into equal parts cheering and groaning. More on the groaning side though. Mr Coulson pretended to look offended.

"I thought that was a pretty good Liam Neeson impersonation." More groaning. He smiled as the bell rang and everyone scrambled to get up. "Good work, kids. Don't let me down with the essay."

Mr Coulson was one of those teachers who managed to use the "I won't be angry, I'll just be disappointed" guilt-trip to maximum effect and to his credit, it always worked; he'd get his essays, single-spaced and at least six pages long rather than the required four. Steve loved his English class and he really liked Mr Coulson. _He_ thought he was cool even if Bucky resolutely refused to admit that _any_ teacher could be cool.

Tony was in the hall waiting for them and they headed off to their lockers, navigating through the crowd of kids hurrying to their next classes. "So, do you losers have your costumes sorted?"

Bucky rummaged in his backpack for his gum, barely dodging Scott Summers as he hurried to basketball practice, offering Bucky a mumbled apology. "I'm going as a vampire, Steve won't tell me what he's going as. It's some big secret."

"It's not a _secret_ , it's just funny. It'll be a surprise." Steve took a stick of gum when Bucky offered. "What about you?" he asked Tony.

"I'm going as my dad, when he used to work for the government." Tony scowled when Steve and Bucky groaned together. "He _did_ work for the government! _Top_ _secret_ shit and everything!"

They reached their lockers and Steve leant against his and gave Tony a withering look. Bucky leaned next to him. They had this argument with Tony at least twice a month and Tony never backed down.

"If it was so "Top Secret" why do you tell everyone about it? Surely you'd be, I don't know, blowing his cover or whatever?" Steve said. Bucky made a noise of agreement.

"Don't you assholes ever think that the reason I go 'round telling everyone about it is because I _know_ that no-one would believe me? That it's all true but because everyone _assumes_ that I'm bullshitting they wouldn't consider that I'm actually telling the truth?" Tony had never pulled this one on them before.

Bucky snorted. "That doesn't make any sense," but now he didn't sound so sure.

It still baffled Steve as to how they'd become friends with Tony: He was loud and obnoxious, he never did any work in class yet still managed to come away with the highest grades and he bullshitted about _everything_. Yet, he was funny and could be surprisingly generous when he wanted to be, like the time Steve couldn't afford a new gym kit because his mom had been laid off at work. Tony had come in to school the day after Steve had told them with $100 and had just stuffed it in Steve's pocket.

"Your birthday present for the next 10 years," he'd said and swaggered off. But he still got Steve something for his birthday every year, regardless. He always gave Bucky his copies of Popular Mechanics too and Steve didn't think he actually had a subscription for himself.

Steve shook his head. "That's really stupid," he said but he couldn't help but think it was actually kind of smart if it were true. Everyone knew Tony was full of it so they immediately wouldn't believe him anyway.

Tony gave them both the finger, one each, and walked away down the corridor still holding his fingers up. "See you tomorrow." They still had a class to go before the day was out but Tony cut all the time.

The hallway was getting less busy now as more kids hurried to their final classes. Bruce Banner gave Bucky a nod as he walked by.

Bucky stretched his arms over his head, turning to Steve. "I love how Tony _still_ tries to get us to believe that crap. Want to come over later for a Retro Game Night?"

Steve nodded and opened his locker, giving Bucky back his blue hoodie. Since Steve had finally hit his growth spurt and caught up to Bucky, they could happily borrow each other's clothes. Bucky had better taste though and more often than not, Steve would be wearing at least one item of his best friend's wardrobe at any given time. "Sounds good. Want to come over for dinner tomorrow? Mom's making lasagne."

"Oh hell yes please." Bucky had a serious catnip thing for Mrs. Rogers' lasagne. They headed off down the corridor together. Bucky had drama, Steve had art. "See you at six?"

Steve smiled and gave Bucky a wave as he turned the corner to get to the art department. "Sure thing."

***

At five forty-five, Steve gave his mom a quick kiss on the cheek as she was sat at the dining table after dinner, doing some work for her evening class. "I'll be at Bucky's. My homework is finished, trash is out, dishes are done and here's a cup of coffee for you." He placed the mug with a flourish on the table.

Mrs Rogers laughed. "Do something teenaged and moody, would you Stevie? You're making me nervous with all these years of being a great kid."

Steve giggled and put on his jacket. He tipped over one of the dining room chairs and left it on the floor, heading for the front door. "Will that do?" He smiled as he left the house, the sound of his mom laughing hard following him out onto the street.

All in all, Steve was pretty happy. He liked school, his friends were great and he was about two months into admitting to himself that he was gay. He just hadn't told anyone else about it yet, not even Bucky. It wasn't that he was ashamed or anything; far from it. He considered himself lucky that he was from a generation where this was accepted and he _knows_ that everyone who knows him will support him. The only homophobic crap he'd had the displeasure of listening to at school was from Johann Schmidt, who made everyone call him Joe because he hated his name, and who was a complete dick anyway. He had called Steve a fag in gym (not the only time he'd called Steve that) and he got suspended for it when five other students reported him. Steve hadn't even come out to himself at that point and he knew that everyone thought that Schmidt was just being a prick. Bucky, who had been ill that day had been furious when Steve told him, wanting to call Schmidt on it but there was no point. Schmidt had always had something against Steve as far back as elementary school. Even Brock Rumlow, who was probably the second biggest douche in the school after Schmidt, wasn't a homophobe which said a lot. He still hung out with Schmidt though which made no-one want to give him a chance.

Steve just hadn't felt like any time had been right to tell anyone yet, that's all. It hadn't really been that much of a surprise to himself when he'd finally figured it out. He had been watching porn (feeling guilty the whole time) on his laptop one day when he got in early from school before his mom finished at the clinic and wondered why he wasn't getting too turned on. After having then watched twenty minutes of a gay porn video and finally realising that, yeah, boys kind of did it for him more, things had slotted together; kind of like the time he had completed the Rubik's Cube Tony had bought to school one day, proud and a little bewildered that he'd actually managed to do it. He felt happy, he was sure of that. He just wasn't too certain where to go from here.

He'd always known that something was lacking in himself; he'd kissed a few girls and while it was nice and all, he had always wondered if other guys felt as...nonplussed about the whole thing as he had. Steve had just assumed that he hadn't met the right girl. He had never confessed this to Bucky, who had never really had a girlfriend either but had kissed his fair share of girls, way more than Steve had and as much as Steve _wanted_ to ask Bucky, "Hey, do you ever think about kissing boys instead when you kiss girls?" he never did.

***

It turned out that Bucky's idea of a Retro Game Night was playing Dead Space on the PS3 and Steve sat next to him on his bedroom floor, eating pretzels and watching him concentrate on the screen, frowning and biting his bottom lip the way he did when he was thinking really hard about something.

"When you said "retro" I thought you meant Axelay or A Link To The Past on your SNES emulator," Steve said with a snort.

Bucky gave him a shove with his elbow. "This _is_ a retro game; it was made in like 2008."

"Buck, that's only six years ago! That doesn't count as being retro."

"It's retro enough," Bucky said and they both screamed as a Necromorph popped out of an air duct. Steve laughed hard as Bucky made some weird desperate noises as he tried to aim and shoot on screen.

"Don't laugh at me, ass-hat," Bucky said and passed the controller to Steve. "You play, I can't take it."

Steve groaned and wiped his hands on his jeans before taking the controller from Bucky. "For someone who likes scary games so much, you suck at them."

"Fuck you," Bucky said cheerfully and leaned across Steve to get the bag of pretzels.

They played for another hour or so (or rather Steve played and Bucky annoyed the hell out of him by being a back-seat gamer) before they called it a night.

"You wanna crash here?" Bucky asked. "We can stop by your place on the way to school tomorrow morning and pick up your stuff."

Steve considered it for a second; he had some spare bed clothes here so it wasn't a big thing. He'd have to get up early though to stand any chance of getting a shower before the rest of the Barnes family.

"Yeah, why not. I'll just call my mom and let her know."

Steve got undressed and put on his sleep shorts while Bucky went off to brush his teeth and he considered telling him about the whole being gay thing, but it still didn't feel like the right time. _When will it be the right time, wuss?_ he thought to himself as he pulled the white tee he kept at Bucky's over his head, huffed out a sigh and rubbed his neck.

"Why the big sigh?" Bucky asked as he walked back into his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him.

Steve shook his head and climbed into Bucky's double bed, shuffling across so he was on the side nearest the wall. "Nothing. Just angsty teenage stuff."

Bucky laughed as he slid into the bed next to Steve and turned off the light. "You're the least angsty person I know. You don't know _how_ to do angst. You're too polite." He did that thing where he shuffled about, trying to get comfy.

Steve tried to sound indignant. "I have _plenty_ of angst. I just haven't felt the need to share it with you."

Bucky laughed again, but Steve could hear the fondness in his voice. "Yeah, right." He was quiet for a beat before adding, "Although if you _did_ , y' know, have any angst that you wanted to tell me about, you know I'd listen right?"

Steve _almost_ told him then, the words ready to spill out but at the last second he just said, "You'd be the first I'd tell. You know that."

"Good. Because you never ever have to hold anything back with me."

Steve felt a little guilty then; why didn't he just go ahead and tell him? Their friendship was the single most solid thing in Steve's life, next to his relationship with his mom; something that had always been fun and easy and right. There was no need for him _not_ to come out to Bucky but he still just...not yet.

"I know, Buck," he said softly and groped in the dark in the general direction of Bucky's shoulder. Bucky made a noise as Steve poked him in the eye instead and they both laughed. Bucky found Steve's hand with his own and took it, squeezing gently. "That goes both ways."

"I know," Bucky said. They lay like that for a few minutes, holding hands, and Steve thought _I am so fucking lucky to have this guy as my best friend._

"Okay, are we done with the soppy stuff?" Bucky asked.

"Yep," Steve said and they let go of each other.

After a few moments, Steve whispered, "Buck?"

"Yeah?" Bucky whispered back.

"When was the last time you washed these sheets? They stink."

"I can't remember. They might be a little crispy, too."

They both burst into hysterical giggles, eventually laughing so long and loud that Mrs Barnes knocked on Bucky's door to tell them to please tone it down; they were keeping Rebecca awake.

***

After a manic navigation of the Barnes' bathroom routine in the morning and a rushed breakfast of Lucky Charms with all of the marshmallows missing, ("Mom! Rebecca ate all of the good bits from the cereal again!") they headed off to Steve's house to get his school books.

"I have a thing at my grandparents on Saturday until three; do you want to come to mine at around five-thirty and we'll head off and meet Clint and Tony at the usual spot?" Bucky asked.

Steve unlocked his front door; his mom had already left for work. "No problem. I'm going to wear my costume to yours. Wait here, I'll just be a sec."

Bucky stood in the front door cat-calling Steve and telling him to hurry, Steve shouting back at him to quit being a dick. When Steve stepped outside to lock the door, his backpack over his shoulder, Bucky reached for his glasses.

"God, how can you see out of these things? They're so dirty." He carefully rubbed them clean on his t-shirt and Steve held back a smile. "Fuckin' hipster frames..." Bucky mumbled.

"I can clean my own glasses and they're not _that_ dirty otherwise I wouldn't be able to see anything."

Bucky held them up and inspected his work. "Are you sure? Because there must be a week's worth of shit caked on these..."

Steve grabbed them back as they walked down the block. "Actually, that _is_ better..."

"Ha!" Bucky said and hooked an arm around Steve's neck. They'd always had a tactile relationship and Steve enjoyed the contact whenever Bucky slung an arm over his shoulder or grabbed him in a hug. Bucky was solid and warm and even though they were the same size, Steve couldn't help but feel safe whenever he pulled him close. They walked in silence for a block, enjoying the warmer-than-it-should be October air.

"You're still happy that we want to go to the same college, right?" Bucky suddenly asked.

Steve turned to look at him. "Yeah, totally. Why, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm _really_ happy that we want to go to the same college. I just didn't want you to feel like we _had_ to. I just...I can't imagine not seeing you everyday is all." He glanced at Steve, looking slightly worried. "I mean, I don't want you to think I'm just tagging along with whatever you do."

Steve felt that strange Rubik's Cube sensation sliding in his stomach for a split second. "You'd never be tagging along, Buck," he said softly. "I don't want to think about not seeing _you_ every day either."

Bucky's grip on Steve tightened for a second, then he smiled. "Good. I just wanted to make sure."

***

Everyone at school suddenly seemed to be excited about Halloween and groups of kids huddled together and discussed costumes and parties, the halls decorated with orange and black bunting and various ghouls, ghosts and skeletons made by the art department scattered about on the walls. Steve had painted four ghosts and a gill-man.

"Howdy boys," Clint sidled up to Steve and Bucky as they stood at Steve's locker, bickering about who owed who in lunch money.

"Hey Clint," they both said together. They had been friends with Clint longer than they had been with Tony, since the 5th grade. Clint was easy-going and fun and generally well liked. His brother also got _any_ new video games console that came out so video game nights at his always ran into the early hours.

Clint grimaced. "Gah, I hate it when you do that hive mind thing. It's so creepy."

"What can we say; we have a symbiotic relationship," Bucky said and took the gum from his mouth and handed it to Steve. Steve immediately put it in his own mouth and started to chew, smiling wide when Clint screeched in horror. It was something Bucky and Steve had started at summer camp a couple of years before and had kind of become their _thing_ to weird people out.

"Oh my god, that is fucking _disgusting_ ," Clint said and put a hand over his mouth.

Steve and Bucky cracked up as Clint shook his head and threw a few more insults their way. He was usually so laid back they were pleased that they'd managed to do something that made him react.

"I _love_ how that freaks people out so much," Bucky said with a snigger.

Steve took the gum out of his mouth and offered it to Clint, his eyes wide and voice flat. "Be one with us, Clint."

"You two are sick," he said and batted Steve's hand away. They both cracked up again.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Bucky asked him when they had all calmed down.

Clint nodded and leaned against the locker next to Steve's. "Yup. I'm going as Cupid."

"Cupid? Really?" Steve gave him a look.

Clint shrugged. "It's ironic."

Steve was about to ask him _ironic how_ when Carol Danvers, Natasha Romanov and Jessica Jones walked by.

"Hi Bucky," Carol said with a little smile.

"Uh...hi," Bucky replied and he pretended to be busy with his backpack until the girls had passed. Steve dismissed a feeling in his gut as Carol looked back over her shoulder at Bucky; Natasha and Jessica smirked at each other. Steve liked Carol; she was smart and funny and nice to everyone but he wasn't sure what he thought about her maybe liking Bucky. He couldn't tell if what he was feeling was jealousy. _Where did that come from?_ he thought to himself.

"Ooh, Buck - what's going on, what's going on?" Clint nudged him so hard he stumbled into Steve.

"I have _no_ idea," Bucky muttered. "I gave her a pencil in study hall the other day when she asked to borrow one and now she keeps giving me _looks_ all the time. You'd have thought it was a frikkin' engagement ring. She didn't give it back, either."

Clint gave a knowing nod. "Sounds like she's interested, man. She's cute too. Although that red head..." He made a wistful noise and stared after Natasha Romanov.

"Maybe you can find her tomorrow night and shoot her with one of your love arrows," Steve said and started to make kissy noises at Clint and Bucky laughed.

"Maybe I will, Rogers. At least _one_ of us would be getting lucky." He playfully shoved Steve away but the timing couldn't have been worse because he lurched straight into Schmidt who had been prowling down the corridor with his little asshole entourage.

Steve apologised and stepped back, hearing Clint mutter "shit" under his breath. Bucky tensed beside him. Brock Rumlow was behind Schmidt but he looked liked he'd rather be getting to wherever it was they had been going; Danny Leighton and Jason Cragg stood watching close behind, eyes bright and eager for a fight. Perfect. Steve just stood and tried not to let Schmidt see how intimidated he was.

Schmidt sneered and folded his arms. "You seem to _want_ to piss me off don't you, Rogers?"

"It was an accident, Schmidt. I pushed him. Besides, he apologised," Clint said, his voice hard.

"Shut up, Barton. I'm sure this little pissant can speak for himself, can't you Rogers?" He took a step towards Steve but Steve stood his ground, fear rising in his throat.

Bucky took a step forward, his fists clenching at his sides. "I wouldn't," he said, his voice low.

Schmidt looked down at Bucky - he was at least half a foot taller than any of them - and glowered at him. "You gonna make this your fight too, Barnes?"

Before Bucky could answer, Clint moved up beside him. "You can make it mine, too." Steve had never been so thankful for his friends. He knew they would all get a black eye for him without a moment's hesitation, not that he particularly wanted them to.

Danny scoffed. "Oh, it's so beautiful. One for all and all for one."

"If you'd apply that off-the-cuff quoting from classic literature in the class, Mr Leighton, you'd be scraping by a C+ instead of the steady D you seem to favour so much." Mr Coulson had appeared from...somewhere and stood with his arms folded, watching them all.

Schmidt frowned and took a step back. Mr Coulson quirked a challenging eyebrow at him and he gave Steve one last death stare and walked away, Brock, Danny and Jason all hurrying after him.

Steve, Bucky and Clint all let out a simultaneous gasp of relief, which would have been hilarious had they all been trying desperately not to shit themselves.

"I think we'd all better get to class, huh boys?" Mr Coulson said and smiled as they all nodded vigorously. He turned and headed for the staff room, greeting Miss Johnson and falling into step beside her, no doubt about to tell her of the almost-brawl he'd just diffused.

"Thanks guys," Steve said quietly.

"Sorry Steve; that was totally my fault," Clint had such a hangdog expression on his face that Steve couldn't help but give a little laugh.

"It's fine. Since he got suspended he's been looking for an excuse to get back at me. It was only a matter of time."

Bucky looked angry. "I've never understood why he's always had it in for you. You've never done _anything_ to him."

Steve gave Bucky a grateful smile. "It's okay, Buck. He's a jerk. He's always been a jerk and he always _will_ be one. That's his problem."

Bucky just shook his head. "One of these days I'm just going to _smack_ the guy."

"Well, give me a call when you do. I'll happily join you," Clint said.

Tony walked up to them then. "Why do you all look so serious? What'd I miss?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "Tony Stark - always late to the party."

"Barton, I _am_ the party."

***

They deliberately stuck together as a group for the rest of the day between classes and at lunch just in case Schmidt decided to try and start something again. Steve couldn't help but feel embarrassed; he didn't want to have his friends protect him all the damn time.

"I ain't protecting you," Tony said.

"Dude, you'd do the same if it were me or Bucky. Maybe not _this_ douchebag," Clint said, scowling at Tony. "If that asshole messes with one of us, he messes with _all_ of us."

Tony scrunched up his nose and said " _All_ of us?" Clint punched him hard in the arm.

Tony rubbed his shoulder and gave them all a royal wave as he left for his guitar lesson, the one class he never skipped out on. "Later." Clint gave him the finger behind his back.

They made it through the day without any incidents. At lunch in the cafeteria, Steve had gone back up to get Bucky another pudding cup and had ended up talking to Peggy Carter for a while. Peggy was pretty awesome and Steve thought that had he been straight, he maybe would have had a big crush on her; she was hilarious and interesting and they had a lot in common. Much to his surprise, the longer they spoke, the more he thought _she_ maybe had a crush on _him_. She kept touching his arm whenever they laughed and made a lot of eye contact. _Yeah right, Rogers_ he thought to himself. _You want a side order of fries to go with that ego?_

When Peggy said bye and went back to join her friends, Steve had looked over at Bucky and Clint, knowing that they couldn't have missed the exchange. Clint had a huge grin on his face and was giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up. But Bucky was frowning slightly and looking down at the issue of Popular Mechanics that Tony had flung at him earlier. Maybe he had missed the whole thing.

"Your pudding, sir," Steve said, placing the cup in front of Bucky.

Bucky smiled. "Thank you, boy. Now fetch me my horse."

Clint leaned over to Steve. "Dude, you are so _in_ with Peggy Carter!"

Steve gave a little shake of his head. "No, I don't think - "

"Steve, she likes you. She's always liked you; you've just been too "oh I'm so dumb nobody wants me" to notice." Clint slammed his fist on the table in front of Steve and one of the lunch ladies glared over at him.

"She's nice to everyone," Steve said weakly. This wasn't really a conversation he wanted to have without things getting...awkward.

"She likes you, Steve," Bucky said with a little grin, but there was something a little...off about it. "It's obvious."

Steve picked at his fruit cup, trying to find another piece of watermelon. "I like her but she's not really my type." The words were out before he had a chance to really think about them and silently cursed himself. He would tell all of his friends about his sexuality eventually, but he wanted Bucky to know first and he certainly didn't want to be having this discussion in the school cafeteria.

Clint looked at him like he had just decapitated a puppy or something. "How is Peggy Carter _not your type_? She's awesome!"

Steve had almost started to flounder, looking at Bucky who was staring back at him with a slightly curious expression, when Natasha Romanov strolled up to their table. They all looked up surprised, Clint sitting bolt upright and his ears suddenly flaring an alarming shade of red.

"I just wanted you to know that what you did earlier was really cool. Standing up to that pumped-up loser." She was speaking to all of them but looking at Clint. Bucky glanced at Steve and they both held back smirks.

"Oh...I, uh. Yeah. You saw that?" Clint stammered.

Natasha raised an eyebrow and looked at Bucky and Steve too. "I just wish more people would follow your example. That fucker needs to be knocked off of his self-appointed throne."

Bucky grinned at her and threw an arm across Steve's shoulders. "We're working on it."

Natasha finally smiled and it was pretty dazzling. "Well, me and my friends applaud you."

"It was our genuine pleasure," Clint babbled and she looked down at him and chuffed out a little laugh.

"I'm sure it was," she said and nodded to them, before heading back over to sit with Carol and Jessica.

Clint groaned when she was out of earshot and dropped his head into his hands. ""It was our genuine pleasure?" Where the fuck did that even come from?"

Bucky and Steve were laughing pretty hard at this point and Steve, relieved that the discussion had veered wildly away from the subject of Peggy Carter, slapped Clint on the back. "For what it's worth buddy, I don't think you'll need any of your Cupid arrows after all."

***

Bucky went back to Steve's after school, strangely quiet as they walked together. Steve picked up a few autumn leaves in gorgeous shades of red and orange to press and pin to his notice board above his desk. When they got to Steve's house, his mom was home and making a start on the lasagne. Bucky bounced around, offering help and acting more like himself. Steve smiled as he set the table, even though dinner wouldn't be ready for a while yet. He'd always loved how well his mom and Bucky got on; they joked together a lot and Bucky always turned on the charm with her which she accepted with amused grace.

"Okay, go and watch TV or something," Mrs Rogers said when the lasagne was in the oven and the salad had been made. "I want to get some work done before dinner."

Steve and Bucky flopped down on the couch in front of Modern Family, chatting about inane things and horsing around. They had been sat in amicable silence for a little while when Bucky turned to Steve.

"Steve..." He had that weird little frown on his face that he'd had at lunch, when he had been glaring down at his magazine. He seemed to be struggling with what he wanted to say.

Steve watched him, his stomach doing a sick slow roll. He hoped he wasn't going to ask about the whole Peggy Carter thing, suddenly terrified that he might actually have to tell Bucky the truth _right this second_. Putting it off up until now had been fine but now that the opportunity to tell him might become less of an opportunity and more of an unavoidable inevitability, Steve realised just how much was at stake for him. He felt like an ass for thinking that way because he _knew_ that Bucky wouldn't care but the feeling of overwhelming panic invaded him nonetheless.

Both of their phones bleeped simultaneously and they glanced at each other in confusion. They scrambled in their pockets and read the text at the same time.

 **CLINT:** NATASHA ROMANOV JUST TEXTED ME WHAT DO I DO 0_0

They both laughed, the tension fizzling away.

 **STEVE:** Stop using capital letters

 **BUCKY: t** ext her back moron

 **CLINT:** And say what??????!!!!!!!

"Should we leave him hanging for a while?" Steve asked Bucky with a huge smile.

Bucky grinned back. "I think so."

After dinner, Bucky helped Steve with the dishes and then sighed and dried his hands on the dish towel. "Okay, I'd better split; we have to get up early tomorrow for the whole grandparents thing."

Steve nodded. "Cool, I'll let you know when I'm on my way over tomorrow evening."

"This costume had better be worth not telling me about. I'm expecting something amazing now." Bucky ducked his head into the living room. "Bye, Mrs Rogers. Thanks for dinner."

"You're welcome, Bucky. Thanks for doing the dishes."

Steve walked with Bucky to the front door. "See you tomorrow."

Bucky turned and looked at Steve for a beat, then waved and trotted off down the sidewalk.

Steve closed the front door and stood uncertainly in the hallway for a minute. His phone bleeped and he fished it out of his back pocket.

 **CLINT:** AND SAY WHAT ANSWER MEEEEEEEEEEE

***

Steve knocked on Bucky's front door the following evening in full costume sniggering to himself, his voice muffled inside his mask, in anticipation of seeing Bucky's face when he answered. It was such a dumb outfit but Steve still thought it was pretty funny.

The door opened and Steve froze momentarily as his brain decided to fritz the fuck out. Bucky was dressed as a vampire but he looked...Steve thought he looked _amazing_. It wasn't even a particularly elaborate outfit; he was wearing a red checked shirt open over a white tank top with a pair of jeans, hair slicked back and skin pale from white face-paint with dark circles smudged around his eyes. He'd oozed a ton of fake blood around his mouth that had dripped down his chin and neck and onto the white tank top, with red handprints on his jeans, making everything look pretty grizzly. There were puncture marks on his neck with gross drawn-on veins snaking out from them and he had in fake fangs, the good kind, not the glow-in-the-dark cheap ones.

That inner Rubik's Cube that had been clicking back and forth all week inside of Steve finally snapped into place again; all of the colors aligned and the sides were uniform and suddenly _everything_ made sense to him in a split-second. He realised then why coming out to Bucky would be such a big deal. He swallowed hard and tried not to freak out behind his mask, wondering why _now_ had been the time for this fucking epic epiphany.

Bucky gave Steve a look that was half amused, half incredulous. "What...the hell...are you supposed to be?"

Steve finally gave himself a mental slap and tried to act like his life hadn't suddenly tipped upside-down. "I'm a hipster werewolf," he said and held up his werewolf hands. "Rawr."

He had found a really cool werewolf mask on ebay - one that went over the head but that actually looked really freaky and it came with hairy clawed gloves - completing the look with a blue checked shirt, ridiculous skinny jeans and huge sneakers that felt like they'd fall off if he tried anything besides a brisk walk. He had managed to cut out strategic slits in the mask so that he could wear his black-rimmed glasses over the top of it, resting them on the wolf snout and he thought it had looked hilarious.

Bucky closed his eyes and put a hand to his head. "That is the _lamest_ thing I have ever seen." He opened his eyes and started to laugh.

Steve snorted behind his mask and rested his hands on his hips, tilting his head as Bucky laughed at him, which looked even _more_ ridiculous and just made Bucky laugh even harder. He finally calmed down and readjusted his fangs which had come loose.

"At least this is original," Steve whined. "There's _nothing_ original about a sexy vampire."

Bucky gave him a strange look. "Um, I'm just a vampire. No-one said anything about a _sexy_ vampire."

Steve was all kinds of glad for choosing the mask that he was wearing because his face would have given everything away just then. He fumbled slightly. "I meant sexy in a True Blood and The Lost Boys kind of way. Bill Paxton in Near Dark at a push..." Yeah, that wasn't helping. Steve wondered how it would look if he turned and high-tailed it back home right now, where he could be mortified with himself in peace.

Bucky seemed to accept Steve's explanation though and stepped aside to let him in the house, shrieking as he saw Steve from the back. "Oh my god, you have a tail too!" He crumpled on the floor in hysterics while Steve just watched. Luckily, Mr Barnes had taken Rebecca and her friends out trick-or-treating otherwise Steve could have expected to get an earful from her too.

Mrs Barnes came out of the living room. "Why _are_ you making all of this racket - " She stopped and looked delighted when she saw Steve. "Oh, Steve! You look so adorable! I Was A Teenage Werewolf, right?"

Steve brightened. "Yes! Kind of; more of a modern version, I guess."

"Oh, I need to get a photo of the two of you. Jamie, if you get that horrible fake blood on the hall carpet, I will _kill_ you." She hurried back into the living room to get her phone.

Bucky picked himself up and made sure that his eye make-up wasn't running. He saw Steve glaring at him from behind his mask and smiled. "Okay, you _do_ look pretty adorable."

Before Steve could answer, Mrs Barnes came back, poking at her phone. "Okay, boys. Do something scary."

They stood close and pulled a few poses, Mrs Barnes laughing and snapping away. When she had taken enough, she flipped through them. "You two always look so good together," she said absently and headed back to her TV show.

Steve and Bucky stood in the hallway looking at each other for a moment, slightly taken aback by Mrs Barnes' offhand comment.

Steve cleared his throat, which sounded like a strangled growl behind his mask. "Okay, we going?"

Bucky nodded and opened the front door. "Yep. See you later, Mom!"

***

By the time they reached downtown, the trick-or-treaters were out in force; groups of kids of all ages, some with parents, some prowling in large packs, costumes of pretty much everything anyone could think of - it was like a circus. Steve spotted a few other people from school - Peter Maximoff and Vic Creed were dressed as some kind of tennis players from an anime Steve wasn't familiar with; Hank Pym, Luke Cage and Frank Castle were the Three Amigos - and he hoped that Schmidt and his goons weren't out tonight.

They met up with Clint and Tony over by the library; Clint's Cupid costume consisted of nothing more than a pair of shoddy homemade wings and a plastic bow and arrow.

"Wow, minus a million points for effort, Clint," Steve said, unimpressed.

Tony had on a white lab coat, blowtorch goggles and was carrying a metal briefcase.

"So this is what your dad wore to his _top secret_ government job?" Bucky snickered with an I-Knew-It look on his face.

"Laugh it up Barnes, but what the fuck do you know about working in the government? I could be carrying lethal injections in this thing." He held up his metal briefcase.

"What _are_ you carrying in there?" Clint asked, aiming his bow and arrow at Steve's butt.

Tony shrugged. "Toilet paper and eggs."

Bucky and Steve both groaned and pushed Tony. "You totally suck," they said together.

Clint shivered. "You're doing that thing again. You two are like those twins from The Shining."

"Speaking of _terrible_ costumes," Tony piped up, "a werewolf and a vampire? Yeah, check out Mr and Mr Original over here."

"Okay, okay - all of our costumes are lame," Steve said. "This we have established. Let's move on. Where are we going?"

Bucky put his hands on his hips and ran his tongue across his fangs. Steve tried not to look too hard as he did it. "Let's head up towards Maple and Oak - maybe Miss Hill has that haunted house thing going on again." Miss Hill was their science teacher and she always put on some amazing themed horror thing at her house every Halloween. Last year she'd set up the entire downstairs of her house as a graveyard with all kinds of gross activities.

"Can we just set some rules first?" Steve asked and the others all groaned. "Look, no pumpkin smashing; it's mean and there's no need for it. No egging little kids or stealing their candy." He glared at Clint when he said that.

"That was _one_ time and if I'd had known just how much you would chew me out for it afterwards, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Okay, fine," Tony said, "but I'll be egging _someone_ before the night is out and it'll be one of you losers if no better option presents itself."

They headed off down Brubaker Avenue; someone had already started to TP several trees and street lights.

"Oh Clint, did you text Natasha Romanov back?" Bucky asked.

Tony raised his blowtorch goggles and gave Clint an impressed look. "Natasha Romanov _texted_ you?"

Clint puffed out his chest. "Yes she did."

"And you replied with...?" Steve prompted.

Clint deflated. "I haven't. Yet. She is so out of my league it's not even funny."

They all started to speak at once offering helpful and not so helpful advise, contradicting each other constantly and eventually driving Clint to throw up his hands and storm off a few feet ahead of them. Tony trotted up alongside him bestowing his own sage wisdom about romancing the fairer sex which, Steve knew for a fact, consisted mainly of Tony pining for Pepper Potts from a distance and running away in the opposite direction whenever she looked like she was even vaguely heading his way.

Steve and Bucky followed, keeping count of all the kids dressed up as Jack Frost from Rise Of The Guardians. Steve was trying his hardest not to think of the realisation he'd had earlier at Bucky's house.

"Okay, I admit it," Bucky suddenly said.

"Admit what?"

Bucky smiled. "Your costume is pretty cool."

Steve smiled back and when he remembered that Bucky couldn't actually see his face, punched him lightly on the arm instead. "Thanks. So is yours."

"Yeah?" Bucky asked. "Would you say I'm the best sexy vampire you've ever seen?" He grinned slyly.

"When I said sexy vampire, I only meant as in - "

Bucky laughed and pulled Steve in, one arm around his shoulder. "I'm kidding. I knew what you meant."

Steve put his own arm across Bucky's shoulder, chewing on his lip furiously under his mask. After a minute, Bucky started to sing, loud and dramatic.

"There is no pain, you are receding..."

Steve smiled and sang the next line. "A distant ship, smoke on the horizon..."

They both sang together on the next line . "You are only coming through in waves, your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying...when I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse...out of the corner of my eye..."

Clint and Tony turned around, Tony making a face.

"Why are you guys singing Pink Floyd?" Clint asked.

"It's our song," Bucky said.

Tony sniggered loud and disbelieving. "You two have a _song_?"

In the 8th grade, Steve and Bucky had to learn a song and sing it with a partner for music class (a class both of them had hated vehemently) and they had finally settled on Comfortably Numb after about a week of arguing. It had fast became a favorite of theirs and they had actually done a pretty good job of singing it together in class along to the backing track.

"They're weird like that," Clint said shaking his head.

"There's nothing weird about best friends having a favorite song," Steve said.

They turned off of Brubaker Avenue and headed down Lark Street. It was a lot quieter this way, most of the kids favouring more well-lit streets where roaming gangs of older teens couldn't ambush them for their candy or, like one fateful year (and still more a myth than fact), douse them with piss-filled water balloons.

Clint gasped as they neared one house up on the left. "Tony, give me an egg." He bounced up and down.

Steve could see the source of his excitement. The house in question, windows dark and vacant looking - hopefully the owners were out - had decided to erect a huge "Norman Osborn For Mayor" standee on their front lawn. The cut-out was grinning sleazily at them and Steve decided he had no problem in defacing the thing; Norman Osborn was trying to cut down the number of free clinics in the city and his mom would be out of a job _again_ if he succeeded.

Tony giggled gleefully and bent down to open his metal briefcase. "Oh, he is just begging for an egging." He handed an egg to each of them.

Clint threw first, hitting the cut-out square in the chin. He laughed maniacally. "Now _this_ is what I'm talking about!"

Bucky stepped up next and Steve watched as he clenched his jaw in concentration. His egg hit the cut-out with a satisfying crack in the chest. Bucky grinned and stepped back.

"Me next," Tony said and spent longer than necessary aiming until the others started to cajole and mock him. He threw his egg and it completely missed the standee, sailing straight by it and hitting the porch swing up by the house. They all froze, expecting a light to come on from inside somewhere. After an agonizing minute nothing happened and Clint let out a breath.

"Great job, Stark," he snorted.

Tony frowned. "You all put me off."

Bucky gave Steve an encouraging nudge and Steve shuffled forwards, trying to get a good view through his mask at the standee. He was just about to throw when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, this is just _too_ good."

Steve winced and turned around. Schmidt, Brock, Danny and Jason were walking down the street towards them. They were in matching outfits, faces painted to look like skulls and wearing black hoodies with skeleton designs on them. Steve could see Schmidt grinning, exaggerated by the toothy smile from his face paint. No doubt they had just been smashing pumpkins and terrorising smaller kids for their candy.

"Fuck," Bucky muttered quietly.

Clint came and stood next to him. "Four against four," he said in a low voice.

Tony mewled and Clint glared at him. "If you run off and leave us, I will kill you. I _mean_ it."

Steve started to feel hot under his mask. "We should just go..."

But it was too late. Schmidt stopped a few feet from them, his focus on Steve. "I was hoping I'd run into you, you little queer."

Bucky immediately jumped in. "What the fuck is your problem, Schmidt? What did Steve ever do to you?"

Schmidt looked at Bucky with utter contempt and was about to answer when Tony jumped in, speaking fast. "You know, 75% of people who constantly use gay slurs as insults are just projecting because of their own insecurities regarding their sexuality."

Steve had no idea if this was true or not (he didn't think it was) but it obviously had some effect on Schmidt because his eyes widened in disbelief and a vein stood out in his neck.

"What the hell are you trying to say, Stark?" Schmidt said and his voice was the most terrifying thing Steve had ever heard: Tony had struck a raw nerve.

"Why don't you tell us, _Johann_?" Clint sneered. "Nothing you want to get off your chest?"

"You're a fucking _ass_ , Schmidt," Bucky barked before Schmidt even had a chance to process what Clint had just said. "No-one in school except your little _lemmings_ over there like you. Get a clue and just do everyone a favour and fuck off!"

"I don't think they pull a C+ between the four of them," Tony said, sounding more confident. "No wonder they all dressed as the same thing - it was easier than coming up with four separate ideas."

"You look like a bunch of low rent Karate Kid extras, by the way," Clint called over to the others.

Danny said to Jason, "What the heck is a lemming?" and then Brock muttered, "Is he talking about the Jackie Chan movie?"

Schmidt seemed slightly confused by the sudden barrage of insults and stalled for a moment; during the whole exchange Steve had been growing angrier and angrier, staring at the idiot in front of him; this _utter asshole_ who had no right to treat people the way he did. Schmidt was a fucking _bully_ and a _coward_. Before Steve even knew what he was doing he launched the egg he was holding as hard as he could with a roar that made the others freeze. There was a loud _smack_ and time seemed to stop for a minute.

Bucky, Clint and Tony all turned and looked at Steve with matching stunned faces. Steve was breathing hard in his mask and he looked over at Schmidt and his insides turned to ice. The egg had hit Schmidt square in the forehead and was dribbling steadily down his face and making his face paint run, remnants of eggshell dotting his cheeks and eyebrows. He looked dazed and Steve already knew that he had made a _huge_ mistake. Behind Schmidt, Danny, Brock and Jason all wore similar stares of disbelief and Jason actually had a hand clapped over his mouth.

The strange silent vacuum suddenly broke when Schmidt's eyes snapped back into focus, zeroed in on Steve and his face crumpled into pure rage.

"Run!" Clint suddenly screamed and the four of them bolted down the street. There was an incensed shout and Steve heard four more sets of feet pounding the sidewalk behind them.

"Oh my god, Rogers! You fucking idiot!" Tony shrieked. "We were winning with our words and you ruined it!"

Clint started to laugh, high and hysterical. "That was incredible! Did you see his face?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Steve shouted, his head and body swimming with adrenaline.

Bucky looked terrified. "They're getting closer fuck fuck fuck - "

Tony suddenly turned and swung his briefcase, launching it behind them and there was a cry of surprise, a scuffle and a heavy thud as it hit someone and they went down. There were angry shouts but they sounded a little further away this time.

Clint was howling with laughter, tears streaming down his face and Steve had no idea how he was still managing to run at a steady pace.

"Split!" Bucky cried and Steve automatically followed him as he headed towards the park. Tony and Clint veered off back towards Brubaker Avenue and the library, Clint's crazed laughter fading as they ran further away from them.

Bucky and Steve ran through the park, not giving two shits about the constant warnings not to go in at night that they insistently gave them at school, all of Steve's being dead set on not getting the snot beaten out of him. He was pretty sure that Bucky was in the same mind-set.

"Quick," Bucky panted, "this way," and they crashed through the bushes near the duck pond. They slowed down once they were hidden and ran hunched over until they reached a dense patch of greenery. Bucky crawled in and Steve followed and they finally slumped down, breathing hard and sweating, the ground soft and damp beneath them and wetness started to seep through Steve's jeans.

He still had his mask on and his breathing sounded like it was so fucking loud. He was about to ask Bucky just how loud it was when they heard Schmidt shouting. They simultaneously held their breath.

"I'm gonna find you! You can't hide from me, you little pricks!" He sounded like he was over by the basketball courts.

Steve could just about see Bucky in the darkness, his leg pressed against Steve's. "It's okay; I don't think he'll find us here," Bucky said, his voice hushed.

Steve was about to answer when there was a noise close by. They both turned to look through the leaves and saw Brock heading towards where they had just run from. He stopped to catch his breath, hands on his hips.

"Don't let them get away through the back gate, Rumlow!" Schmidt called and he sounded further away than before.

Brock made an annoyed noise. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered to himself. He stood there scanning the bushes by the pond for a few seconds, nothing visible except the white of his grinning skull face and skeleton torso. Steve tried to breathe steadily through his nose, not daring to move. He could feel Bucky doing the same next to him.

Brock picked up a large stick and started to whack the bushes with it about ten yards from where they were currently hiding, steadily making his way over to them, occasionally jabbing the stick deep into the foliage.

Steve looked at Bucky. He could see Bucky's eyes, wide and glistening in the darkness. "What do we do?" Steve whispered, dread in his voice.

"I don't know. Shit, I don't know," Bucky whispered. "If we make a run for it, he'll catch us for sure."

They watched as Brock came closer. Steve felt Bucky's hand on his arm and he was sure that he was going to suffocate from sheer panic in his mask and he wanted to rip the stupid thing off but he stayed frozen in place.

Brock was less than five feet from them when he suddenly stopped hitting the bushes and threw the stick on the ground. "Oh, fuck this," he said and started to walk away towards the gate at the other end of the park. Steve and Bucky let out tiny whines of relief.

"Did you find them?" Schmidt shouted and thank god, he still sounded far away.

"Fuck you! I'm going home!" Brock shouted back and there was an enraged shriek from Schmidt.

Steve waited until he was sure that Brock was gone and carefully pulled off his mask, wiping his face on his sleeve and finally gulping in air that wasn't his own recycled breath. He put his glasses back on.

"Do you think Schmidt gave up?"

Bucky tried to look out through the leaves. "I don't know. Let's stay here for a little while just in case."

"Buck, I'm so sorry." Steve kept his voice low. "I don't know _what_ I was thinking. I just got so _angry_ and then the egg just left my hand and - "

But Bucky just started to laugh, soft and relieved. "Steve, that was _amazing_. I cannot believe you did that; it was the best thing I've ever seen!" Bucky continued to laugh, trying to keep it quiet. "I mean, Tony throwing his briefcase was just...I think I actually love him a little for that but _you_ launched an egg from almost point blank range into Schmidt's stupid face. That was just incredible."

Steve finally started to laugh with him, verging on the same kind of hysterical that had no doubt gripped Clint and tears rolled down his face. "Clint and Tony laying into the others...that was just..." he could barely speak and they laughed low and manic for a few minutes.

Bucky sniffed and wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve, cursing as he remembered his face paint. "Oh man, I think I'm finally coming down from all the excitement."

Steve nodded. "I don't think I've ever run so fast."

Bucky's phone bleeped in his pocket and he quickly checked it. He held it close to Steve, trying to cover the light from the screen in case Schmidt was still around.

 **CLINT:** r u guys okay???

 **BUCKY:** we're in the park. think schmidt has gone but staying put until safe. how bout u guys??

 **CLINT:** our fuckwads gave up pretty quick, dont think they can function without the queen bee. we ran into natasha and a few of the others. in mojo burger now. u guys coming?

Bucky shook his head. "I don't know about you but I'm wiped."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I'll be lucky if I can make it home." He was aware of the exhaustion washing over him.

 **BUCKY:** nah, we're done. c u monday

 **CLINT:** best halloween ever :D

Bucky grinned and looked up at Steve. "I think it was."

Steve smiled back and they looked at each other for a beat too long. Bucky's eyes were bright and his face was lit by the glare from his phone screen. Steve's stomach suddenly clenched because Bucky was staring at him in a way Steve had never seen before and he swallowed hard because he was pretty sure he was looking back at Bucky the same way. Bucky's phone faded to black and that seemed to snap them out of...whatever that was.

"Come on," Bucky said softly, "let's go home."

***

It was only 9:15pm by the time they got to Steve's house; they had walked the long way back, avoiding downtown just in case Schmidt was still looking for them. They weren't too worried about Clint and Tony. Steve hoped that Clint had finally managed to work up the courage to talk to Natasha.

"Do you want to come in for a drink or something?" Steve asked as he unlocked the front door.

Bucky hesitated. "Nah, I'd better head home." Most of his face paint had come off, leaving just the smear of fake blood that ran from his chin and down his throat; his slicked back hair had flopped back into his face from all the running. He looked younger somehow. "Want to hang out tomorrow?"

"I can't. Me and Mom are going to my aunts for the day."

"Ah yeah," Bucky said and looked down at his sneakers for a minute. He finally looked up at Steve with a little smile. "See you Monday, I guess."

Steve tried as hard as he could to decipher that smile. "Yeah. Hey, text me when you're home?"

Bucky nodded and backed up, still watching Steve. He gave a little wave and headed down the street.

Steve went inside the house, closing the front door and leaning against it, dropping his werewolf mask to the floor. "I'm home," he called out.

"Steve? Did you have a good time?" His mom was in the den. He could hear How I Met Your Mother on the TV.

"Yeah, it was...eventful." He couldn't quite bring himself to move just yet.

His mom chuckled. "How so?"

 _Oh, you know_ , Steve thought, _egged the school bully, ran for our lives, hid in a bush. Oh yeah! And I also realised that I'm completely in love with my best friend._

He walked through to the den, ready to tell his mom everything except the last bit.

***

The thing was, it made total sense to him. How could he have _not_ realised it sooner? He thought about Bucky all the time, even before he acknowledged the extent of his feelings; it hadn't seemed weird to him at the time. But now he comprehended just how _much_ he thought about him, how funny he was, his amazing smile, the way his blue eyes stood out in contrast to his dark hair, how much Steve enjoyed being touched by him. They had been with each other through everything and it always felt right and good and Steve was happy the most when he was with Bucky. He had always loved him, he knew that now; it had just taken his stupid brain a while to figure out that he was _in_ love with him.

Nobody knew Steve the way Bucky knew him and Steve knew Bucky better than anyone, there were no secrets between them. Well, at least there hadn't been until now.

The whole of Sunday, Steve tried not to think about it; he tried to play with his younger cousins, talk to his aunt about school and what he wanted to do when he graduated. But then he would think about the way Bucky had looked at him when they had been hiding from Schmidt. Surely Steve would know if Bucky...liked him like that? But then, surely Bucky would know if Steve liked _him_ like that, wouldn't he? They knew each other too well...didn't they? At one point Steve chuckled to himself; _this_ was that dumb teenage angst that he had managed to avoid for so long. It had finally been slapped on him and it was a doozy.

***

On Monday morning he strolled up to Bucky's house and knocked for him. He had been worrying for the rest of the weekend that things would suddenly be awkward; they had been texting each other throughout the day yesterday and it had felt the same as always. But then it was hard to tell if things were right with a text. When Bucky came out of his house though, he smiled wide and bright and Steve tried not to let out a relieved breath. Everything was fine. Well, not exactly fine - there was still the little matter of Steve having to tell Bucky that he liked boys, one boy in particular - but nothing had changed between them. Yet.

They tried a weird complicated handshake that Sam Wilson had taught them on their school trip to the museum, laughing as their fingers became tangled and they made their way to school. They talked about the other night, how funny everything seemed now and they suddenly both realised that they'd still have to face Schmidt at school. Steve had been so preoccupied with his feelings for Bucky, he had totally not thought about it.

"Shit, Buck - what am I going to do? He'll beat the crap out of me as soon as he sees me."

Bucky looked at him with determination. "No, he won't. We'll stick together all day, meet after every class, find Clint and Tony at lunch and maybe try and sit with Natasha and her friends. If he _does_ lay a hand on you, well, I'll be right there to take any punches too. You can count on that."

Steve nodded. "Thanks Buck." His voice was thick and he met Bucky's eyes and...he was looking at Steve the way he had been the other night again. He was searching Steve's face, his eyes honest and wide and maybe slightly nervous. Everything was about to burst out of Steve then and he was going to tell him, just _tell_ him, when he saw Clint and Tony running down the street towards them, faces flushed with excitement and both shouting incoherently.

Bucky frowned. "What are they doing here? This isn't on their way at all."

"I have no idea..." Steve said, deflated that the right moment had finally presented itself and had been dashed.

Clint almost barrelled into them and Tony stopped and leant on his knees, breathing hard. They must have run a solid two miles at least.

"What the hell?" Bucky patted Tony on the back and Tony tried to swat his hand away.

They both started to babble together again when they had their breath back, waving their hands around and trying to talk over each other.

"Oh my god, stop!" Steve shouted. "I can't understand a fucking word either of you are saying!"

Clint looked like Christmas had come earlier. "Schmidt got _arrested_ the other night!"

Steve and Bucky's mouths both dropped open at the same time. "What?!"

Tony clapped his hands. "Apparently, after he lost you guys in the park he went back to Lark Street - "

" - and he went nuts and _set fire_ to that Norman Osborn thing we egged," Clint cut in, ignoring Tony's annoyed protest that _he_ wanted to tell them, "and he kicked it over and _that_ set fire to a ton of dead leaves - "

"-and the front porch of the house ended up on fire!" Tony finished triumphantly. "Luckily the fire-fighters and police turned up before the actual house went up and Schmidt was too dumb to even make a run for it!"

Clint grabbed Steve by the shoulders and started to shake him. "He's been expelled!"

They all started to laugh hysterically in the middle of the street, clutching at each other and whooping. Steve met Bucky's eyes and they laughed and grinned at each other.

 _Best Halloween ever_.

***

It was all everyone could talk about at school. It was like a damn _carnival_. Brock, Danny and Jason walked around in a daze, not quite able to believe that they had narrowly escaped being dragged down by Schmidt and no doubt had started to question their life choices. Brock passed by Steve and Bucky between classes at one point and had just nodded at them. The teachers eventually gave up trying to restore any kind of order and just let the kids burn themselves out on their own excitement.

At lunch, they all sat together, still thrumming with the giddy thrill that _they_ had all played a part in getting Schmidt kicked out of school. They decided to enjoy their new minor celebrity while they could; no doubt by next week something else would have happened and they'd be forgotten again.

Clint stood up at one point and said, "I'll be right back, boys." He headed over to Natasha's table with slightly more confidence in his stride.

Bucky and Steve watched with gleeful interest. "So what happened at Mojo Burger on Saturday night?" Steve asked Tony.

Tony smirked. "Clint won her over. He spilled half of his vanilla milkshake on her in the process but he won her over."

"Good for him," Bucky said with a pensive little smile as he watched Clint and Natasha talk and make very obvious eyes at each other.

Steve wondered what he was thinking about.

***

Bucky was waiting for him when he came out of his Biology class at the end of the day. Bucky was in the advanced science classes and it was one of the few subjects they didn't share. They left the building together and started off home. They were both quiet on the walk to Bucky's, still heady and buzzed by the whole drama of Schmidt's arrest but there was something else there too that Steve wasn't sure of. When he looked at Bucky, he would just smile back at him, his eyes flitting across Steve's face and warmth, anticipation and trepidation shot through Steve like a bullet. Something had been acknowledged between the two of them.

"Want to come over later for a Retro Game Night? We can actually play Axelay this time," Bucky said softly and looked down at his feet.

"Sure," Steve said. "Axelay would be good."

They got to Bucky's and he started up his front walk, giving Steve a grin. "See you later."

Steve didn't even bother to _not_ make it obvious that he was staring as he watched Bucky go.

***

Mrs Barnes answered the door that evening after dinner. "Steve, come in." She always sounded happy to see him. "Jamie told me about the boy who got arrested the other night. Did you know him?"

Steve smiled and toed off his sneakers. Bucky had obviously left out the part that involved the four of them. "Unfortunately, yes. He's been a pain in my a - my side for years."

"Well, not any more by the sounds of it. Jamie's upstairs." She went back into the living room and Steve waved at Rebecca and Mr Barnes as he made his way upstairs to Bucky's room. His door was open and Steve tapped on it before he stepped in.

Bucky was setting up his old Xbox, the chipped one with all of the emulators on it and he looked up with a smile. "Hey."

"Hi," Steve said back and started to order things in his head; he was finally going to tell him. "Hey, uh, can I speak to you for a sec?"

Bucky stood up a little too quickly, almost as though he had been expecting Steve to say something. "Sure," he said.

Steve took a breath. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you...for a while now..."

Bucky folded his arms and nodded, waiting for Steve to continue, watching him closely.

"I realised a little while back that...I, uh...maybe...no, not maybe, I'm certain... _more_ than certain that I...it was kind of...after thinking about it a lot...that I'm...oh, this isn't going how I - "

Bucky grabbed the front of Steve's shirt and yanked him in, bringing his mouth to Steve's and kissed him, kind of awkwardly at first but when Steve got over the initial shock and started to kiss him back, it was warm and soft and...right. Just _right_. He moved his hand up to Bucky's neck and gently stroked his jaw, testing. He felt Bucky smile and they parted.

Bucky's eyes were soft and happy. "You were saying?"

Steve blinked a few times, trying to clear his head, a stupid smile on his face. "I'm...I'm gay."

Bucky just nodded and gently swept Steve's bangs out of his face. "Uh-huh. Is that all?"

"I've liked you for a long time. More than like...actually..."

Bucky just made an accepting noise, like Steve had just told him that he got an A on his Chemistry test and tried to hold back a smile. "Okay. Well, I've got something to tell you too."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

Bucky nodded. "Yep. I'm gay and I've liked you for a long time. More than like, actually."

Steve looked at him for a beat and they both burst out laughing, holding each other and Steve buried his face in Bucky's shoulder. Bucky slid a hand up Steve's back and stroked the back of his neck. He kissed the top of Steve's head.

"So that's it? We've told each other what we needed to tell each other?"

Steve raised his head and gently kissed Bucky again, more than a little excited by how good Bucky's lips felt against his. "Yeah, that was pretty much it."

Bucky smiled and chuckled softly. "Good. Do you still want to play Axelay?"

Steve pretended to think. "Not so much anymore."

"Me neither," Bucky said with a big grin.

***

They walked to school hand in hand the next morning, strolling slowly, not really caring if they were late. They had stayed in Bucky's room making out on his bed until Steve's mom had called at 11pm asking if he ever planned on coming home. He had barely slept that night, too excited and utterly out of his gourd in love to feel tired, texting Bucky until five this morning when they had both finally dozed off in their respective houses.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to tell me," Bucky said.

Steve hummed. "It was that obvious?"

Bucky smiled. "Not _totally_ obvious but there were enough little things that I kind of guessed. About you liking guys, I mean. I didn't...I wasn't sure you liked _me_ although I was hoping. _Really_ hoping. It wasn't until the whole Peggy Carter thing and you calling me a sexy vampire that I thought _shit, I think he does_."

"You aren't mad that I didn't just tell you when I knew? That I was gay, I mean."

Bucky shrugged. "I figured you had your reasons and that you'd tell me when you were ready. I kind of hoped the reason would be me..."

Steve gave him a nudge. "So instead of _telling_ me you thought you'd wait for me to make the first move."

Bucky laughed. "I was waiting for the right time. You beat me to it."

Steve squeezed his hand. "It's going to be fun telling Clint and Tony."

"I get the feeling that Clint won't be surprised. Tony'll probably be unbearable for a while but who gives a shit." Bucky threw his arm across Steve's shoulder, like he always had done, but this time he leaned in and kissed him with a smile.

Steve snaked his arm around Bucky's waist and grinned at him. "Best Halloween ever."

 

 


End file.
